Sunday, December 26, 2010

Holy Spurs


Here it is the day after Christmas, and I got nearly nothing accomplished. I can't believe how badly my feet ache after having spent 8 hours standing in my kitchen on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I swear, if I buy myself nothing else this coming year, I'm getting one of those fancy cushioned matts that chefs use. In the meantime, I've got my feet elevated and in a little while, I'm going to try a little sleep to see if I can restore some of my musculoskeletal function.

Ordinarily, my sister in law and I split the duties of cooking, but she was sick so I cooked both days. I'd planned on lasagna for Christmas dinner, but made that on the Eve instead and went to my old standard horseradish encrusted tenderloin with port wine reduction sauce for yesterday's dinner. It was fabulous. Leading the family in prayer both nights, I ended with a simple, Amen. Mr. Larger Than Life added loudly (because he can't hear himself), "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spurs," ending with an elaborate giant circle he made around his head. I'm still a bit perplexed by that, but oh well, if it works for him, that's OK. The thing is, I've never known him to pray, but lately, he's all about the blessings.

According to him, my mother in law used to bless him when he went out of town. I never saw this with my own eyes, so I couldn't say if it was true, or confabulation. If I had to guess, I'd say it was the latter. His oddness is worsening of late, and I'm not so sure what's going on with him. Overall, he's physically in decline as well. He has a relatively new shuffling gait that appears as though he has Parkinson's, but he has no upper extremity tremors. I've offered in the past to take him back to the neurologist, but he's so terrified of bad news, he becomes irate with the suggestion, so I stay my thoughts. What will be, will be and my husband and I will likely be caring for him in some way, shape or form.

Much to most everyone's shock, now that my son has graduated and is interviewing for a job in Washington, MLTL's primary caregiver will be vacating his position of Saint of the Year and my father in law has something new to pray for. He tells my son daily, "I pray to God that you don't get that job," and with all of his very enlarged, malevolent heart, he means what he says. He also tells my sister in law that she's not a dutiful daughter because she won't come home and care for him. Now I ask you, who'd willingly want the job of taking care of someone so manipulative and ungrateful? My friends, my husband and I see the writing on the wall.

I'd better stock up on fig vodka.

A note about the photo at the top: though I said I accomplished nearly nothing today, I was referencing chores. Knitting? I got plenty done. I'm almost through the hat chart for that gorgeous stocking cap in, Northern Knits. It's my Christmas gift to myself. After everyone left last night and my house was silent, I went about perusing my yarn and options. My eyes came to settle on the one package I've avoided for nearly a month and I couldn't help myself one moment more.

12 comments:

Michaela said...

UR amazing. Cooking up a feast for all on Xmas, singlehanded. And, dealing graciously with MLTL. You win my Saint of the Year award, my dear! xxooo

Devon said...

Seriously, it sounds as if your son gets his wings from you! Glad you got to rest with your feet up today.

That knitting project looks very fun!

SkippyMom said...

Wow that is a lot of cooking - no wonder you are beat. Sounds yummy tho'. :)

I still can't figure out how you knit those neat-o patterns. It is amazing. I had my snowflake sweater on the other day [similar] and I kept studying it and thinking of you - as in "How does Rudee do this."

Hang in there with MLTL - he starting to sound even more confused than ever. I hope your son gets the job tho' - not for your sake, but for his. Keep my email handy if he needs anything while in DC I can send along our phone number if he needs anything - we are close.

Hugs!

Rose said...

Good for you for treating yourself after all your hard work! I stayed up late too in order to get some alone time and knit a bit on my Cranberry Sauce hat.

Gail said...

You deserve a vacation!...or just some serious undisturbed knitting time after all that work!

Celia said...

Mmmm! Sounds like good grub at your house. The project looks beautiful!

ari_1965 said...

The Church of the Holy Bunkhouse
Our Lord of the Lasso
First United Cowboy Church of Detroit
Buckaroo Prayer & Pancake House

Finding Pam said...

Rudee, I agree about with the others about you and your son being Saints.

You are a very caring person. I think MLTL is so blessed to have you.

Your meals sound wonderful. I tried my hand at cooking healthy with baked chicken, galic pasta , green beans and corn. I think I used to much seasoning because it was too hot.

This healthy cooking is very hard to do,plus taking my blood sugar. The diet is confusing in that I have to count all of the carbs, protein and fats. I hope this gets easier.

Your sweater is beautiful.
Happy New year.

Unknown said...

Oh Rudee, my feet hurt really bad also. That knitting project looks great. I have orders from other grands to make more ponchos and gloves now. I figured that. I am going to make purses for Easter as I got some beautiful patterns and beautiful yarns. MBTL is a hoot, at least on paper. You are indeed a saint. Happy New Year to you and yours.
QMM

Stephanie V said...

That man is certainly getting more than he deserves from his family. I'd certainly pick you if I had a hard journey ahead. The love and caring that you share is phenomenal. Kvetching is always allowed.
Having some time to knit is a bonus when you're having to create the feast, too.
Good luck to your son - fingers crossed for his job opportunity.

Jeannette StG said...

Rather read about the holy spurs than mites, Rudee:) It seems the third part of the trinity is likely to be distorted -in one movie (was it in the Wedding with Hugh Grant?) he was referred to by a tipsy priest as the holy spicket??
As always, your knitting looks fabulous! Hope your feet recovered from making Christmas dinner!

Jane said...

Can sympathize. I cooked both days too!